1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming system that includes a plurality of gaming terminals and executes an event game for competing for acquisition of a progressive bonus at the respective gaming terminals when a count value of a progressive bonus counter, which is accumulated by executing games at the respective gaming terminals, has reached a predetermined value.
2. Description of the Related Art
As gaming machines such as slot machines, there are known those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,459, U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,697, US Patent Published Application No. 2003/0069073, European Patent Published Application No. 1192975, U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,483, U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,730, U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,088, U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,981, U.S. Pat. No. 6234896, U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,016, U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,820, U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,482, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,731, U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,957, U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,048, U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,402, U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,013, U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,709, European Patent Published Application No. 0631798, German Patent Published Application No. 4137010, UK Patent Published Application No. 2326830, German Patent Published Application No. 3712841, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,638, U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,980, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,909, U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,303, U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,409, U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,533, U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,817, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,704, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,707, U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,728, European Patent Published Application No. 1302914, U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,459, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,700, International Publication No. 03/083795, German Patent Published Application No. 3242890, European Patent Published Application No. 0840264, German Patent Published Application No. 10049444, International Publication No. 04/095383, European Patent Published Application No. 1544811, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963, European Patent Published Application No. 1477947, and European Patent Published Application No. 1351180.
In a facility where the gaming machines as described above are placed, a player makes a bet by coins and credits to the gaming machine, and thereby can play a game provided by the gaming machine concerned.
For example, every time when the player makes the bet to a slot machine as an example of the gaming machine and presses a START switch, the slot machine executes a slot game in which a plurality of symbols arranged on a display are rearranged. Then, in the case where a combination of the symbols rearranged on the display has become a predetermined winning combination, the slot machine provides an award corresponding to this winning combination.
Moreover, the slot machine also provides a jackpot (progressive bonus). Specifically, the slot machine reserves, as a bet for the jackpot, a part of the bet such as the coins and the credits, which is made to the slot machine. Then, the slot machine decides whether or not to provide a bet for the jackpot at predetermined timing, and in the case of having decided to provide the bet, provides the entirety or a part of the reserved bet for the jackpot to the player.
However, the conventional gaming machine as described above only provides the bet for the jackpot when the jackpot is won, and it is desired that a gaming system provided with a new entertainment factor appears.